So I was shopping the other day and wandered into the Halloween aisle. I was kind of bummed out and horrified by all the creepy masks—the weirdo from the Saw movies, the Scream ghoul, super slasher monsters. I thought to myself, “Where is the childhood innocence? Who lets their kid dress up as a crazy murderer?? These masks are terrifying!” I shook my head thinking, “It’s not like back in the day when we were kids!”

Um…..OK. So I’m not sure when you last looked at old school Halloween masks, but shut mah mouth because some of these are positively terrifying!!! The cheap plastic only adds to the appeal. Of course I still love ’em all. And frankly, they’re miles better than the Scream ghoul. Let’s take a look at come vintage kiddo Halloween pics. I swear each kid is better than the next:

Yes the clown is terrifying, but my heart belongs to the stressed out little Planet of the Apes dude on the end.

The vacant Snoopy. That draggy clown. The “phonin’ it in” Charlie Brown. All genius. Not sure what’s happening with the faceless Mr. Skelly. Is that kid just wearing a pulled down hat over his head??

OK. These little kiddos from 1951 are actually really cute.

I love that you can see her little dress in the reflection of the mirror. So sweet!

Here are the same happy kidlets one year later:

I’m amazed at this nonchalant baby…like it ain’t nuthin’ but a thang….If that devil child showed up at my door step I’d run screaming. I can’t imagine anything more terrifying.

Oh wait, that’s because this little creeper hadn’t showed up yet:

This poor child is like a Tretchikoff painting on acid.

I can’t stop starring at and giggling at this next kiddo:

That poor child….looks like a classic victim of the dreaded, “It’s freezing out there! You wear a coat under that costume or you’ll catch your death of cold!” I always hated when mom made us wear our coats under our costumes.

These guys are actually all pretty cute:

The Top Hat wearing ghost is oddly adorable. Wolfie would never have let me get away with that…

This next one kills me. Devils in a Red Granny Flannel Dress.

OK, check out the wig on the little nurse. Hee.

I love this one. What child decides that they want to be George Washington??

Count Chocula? Cheap Bear in a Micky Sweat shirt? Love these guys…

Mod Darth Vader looking suspiciously like an Ewok….

And finally, my favorite of the bunch:

The Colonel Sanders girl? I mean….c’mon now. Seriously, I can’t wait for Halloween.

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Don’t forget, there is still time to send me your Best and Worst Homemade Costume Photos! Check here for details! We’ll be posting the Costume Parade on Wednesday!!